Loading Docs

Anna Jackson is the Executive Producer, with Julia Parnell, of Loading Docs, a Launchpad for innovative three-minute documentary shorts from New Zealand.

Show Me Shorts has a motto that we at Loading Docs fully endorse: “here for a good time, not a long time”. Three minutes is certainly not a long time, but we believe it’s long enough to create a short documentary that grabs your attention, makes you think and feel, and can turn an ordinary coffee break into a moment of inspiration.

Choosing only three shorts was impossible because they’re all so good! In the end, we decided to draw names. Drumroll please…

Baba

Director Joel Kefali and Producer Amber Easby

Filmmaker Joel Kefali has created an animated interpretation of a conversation with Sol, his Turkish grandfather. The film was originally called Dans (Turkish for Dance) and Joel had planned to focus on Sol’s early days as a migrant, dancing at The Orange Ballroom in Auckland. The conversation took many twists and turns though, and the film captures Sol’s colourful leaps from one topic to another. It’s a very loving and often humorous journey through memory. The film is still a bit of a dance, but the heart of the story is Joel’s Baba.

Wayne

Director/Producers Kirsty Griffin and Vivienne Kernick

Wayne is a really unique portrait of a man with an intellectual disability who struggles to communicate and hasn’t always found it easy to get along with others. Despite this, in three short minutes the filmmakers Kirsty and Vivienne have managed to convey the depth of Wayne’s relationships. As Kirsty and Viv put it; “we no longer identify him as a man with an Intellectual Disability, but just another guy trying to figure out women and his relationship with them”.

The Road to Whakarae

Director/Producers Tim Worrall and Aaron Smart

Although it’s only three minutes long, The Road to Whakarae is very interesting as a documentary. Firstly, it presents an absolutely unique and intimate perspective on a community that few people outside the Waimana Valley would have the privilege to experience. But it also challenges the notion of what documentary is. There are no interviews, no observational footage, and no archive. It could be perceived as a music video, but somehow it’s not, perhaps because it has such a distinctive collective ‘voice’.

We wanted Loading Docs to be a launchpad for New Zealand documentary makers to showcase their creativity and skill. Our filmmakers rose to the challenge, producing ten incredible three-minute documentaries that are each very unique and wonderful. You can see all ten films at www.loadingdocs.net